Page 14 of Maybe, Probably
Walking up to the front desk I’m greeted with a friendly smile. “Hi there! Welcome toHawthorne Creature Clinic, do you have an appointment?” I look down at their name tag and see the name Todd labeled on there, in slightly smaller font underneath it saysthey/them.
“Uh hey, yes. I called about twenty minutes ago regarding my dog Winnie.”
“Oh yes!” They reply and stand up to look over the desk and pouts when they see the condition of Winnie. “Oh you poor baby! Okay, I just need you to walk him over to the scale behind you so we can get his weight and then I’ll show you to the room.” They point to the scale and I walk him over. “Okay, looks like he is forty kilos. I have this form I need you to fill out, but you can do that while you’re waiting for Dr. Hawthorne.” They motion their arm toward the second door and I follow behind them into the examination room. After thanking them, they hand me the clipboard and shut the door.
The exam room is orderly with its metal table and a chair off to the side. The room has a sterile feel and smell, but that’s a good thing for a vet’s office. I sit down in the chair and start to fill out the information form. I am so thankful I decided to keep the pet insurance the shelter offered, because it will help with some of this bill. Winnie is laying in between my legs. He’s nervous, which is understandable. He’s in pain, I took him to this strange building and I’m sure everything smells funny to him.
I give him a few pats on his head, avoiding any quills, and then continue filling out the form. I’m so consumed with all the questions, I don’t even realise the door opens until I hear the most soothingly, deep voice.
“I heard that we lost a fight with a porcupine today.” The vet walks in looking at his tablet, which I'm assuming has Winnie's basic information on it. He looks up at me, and I freeze.
No.
There is no way.
Because the man standing in front of me is no other than Xavier. Dalton’s new girlfriend'shotbrother.He’sthe man who is going to be taking care of my dog.
I’m sure I look like a fool sitting here staring at him with wide eyes. He raises an eyebrow, expectantly.
Shit. I should introduce myself.
“Hi!” I say as I stand up, “Yes, he most certai—” My sentence is interrupted as I topple forward. I was so flustered, I forgot that Winnie was resting between my legs, and as I stood up to shake his hand I completely tripped over my dog.
Everything happens in slow motion, and there’s absolutely nothing I could do to avoid what’s about to happen. Horror and panic wash over me as the hand that I intended to use to shake his drops to the front of his pants. I basically grab his crotch as I fall to the ground.
I let Jesus take the wheel and accept my fate of face planting on the floor. The floor never comes though, because suddenly I am suspended above the ground. My foot flies forward to balance myself better as strong hands grip my shoulders.
“Oh my God, I amsosorry,” I stammer, as I struggle to straighten myself out. Heat rushes to my face, and with my complexion, I probably look like a summer strawberry right now.
I hear a curt voice above me. “It’s fine. Really. So, tell me what happened.”
My eyes flick up to his face, and I'm met with a hard look. Deep midnight blue eyes piercing me paired with a sort of scowl on his face. Great. I’ve pissed him off. This is going so well. I start to wring my hands together, before sitting back down in my chair.
“So, we were out at the Sailors Point trail, I’ve been working on his off leash training. On our way back, he just took off into the bush. I tried to call him back then I just heard him yelp. By the time I found him he was like this. You guys were the closest place. Thank goodness you guys had an opening. He’s the first dog I've gotten on my own.” I continue to look at my hands, knowing that the next words out of my mouth are just going to be pure word vomit. “To be honest, I don’t know what I’m doing. I adopted Winnie on a whim when I walked by the shelter and saw that they were having an adoption fair. Not that I randomly decided that I was going to get a dog, I’ve been thinking about getting a dog for awhile. My ex and I were talking about getting one. Thenthatended, but I still wanted to follow through and get a dog. It was like fate when I came across this adoption fair. When I saw Winnie, I just instantly connected with him. He’s probably one of the best things to happen to me.” I let out a big gush of air.
I’m met with silence. I haven’t looked up at him since I started rambling. Giving myself the courage, I glance up, and what I see was not what I was expecting. Winnie is on his back, getting tummy scratches. If he didn’t have the obvious quills coming out of his face, you wouldn’t have guessed anything was going on with this dog.What a big baby.
But that isn’t what made me pause. What stopped me was the small smile that was on Xavier’s face when he was focusing on Winnie. I’m amazed at how he was able to keep him calm and look at his face at thesame time. I didn’t even realize that he was checking him out. I thought we were sitting in awkward silence at my accidental crotch grab.
“So, these don’t look too deep.” He says, snapping me out of my thought bubble. “I’m still going to have to take him back and put him under anesthesia to get these quills out though. It’ll allow him to be still and for me be able to take them out without possibility of any quills breaking and staying embedded. Plus, this way he won’t react when I do it, which can cause him to tear things open more. We don’t want that.”
A million scenarios and questions run through my head.
“How long will it take?”
“It shouldn’t take too long, no longer than two hours. Like I said before these quills don’t seem to be too embedded so I don’t think it will take me too long to remove them all successfully. I’ll send you home with some antibiotics and something for the pain.” His eyes focused on his tablet, his finger moving along the screen. “My assistant will go over all of this with you before you take him home for the day. I’m just going to go back and get everything sorted out. Someone will be back to come and get Winnie. Do you have any other questions?”
I shake my head. I look down at Winnie, and feel the prickle of tears starting at the back of my eyes. I look up at the ceiling, blinking rapidly trying to clear it away.
Clearing my throat, “No. Uh, actually. Is there additional paperwork or anything I need to fill out?”
“Yes, there will be a consent form for you to sign. One of my techs will come with the forms for you to sign, then they’ll take the big guy back to get him prepped. You can stay in the waiting room while we’re working on him.”
I nod my head, while carefully scratching Winnie’s ear.
“Than—” I’m cut off by the click of the door. I realize that he just left the room without a word.
“Well, okay then.” I take a few deep breaths and continue to give Winnie attention until he inevitably gets taken back for surgery. I signed the forms that were given to me and was redirected to the waiting area. Icouldn’t imagine myself leaving the vet while Winne was being worked on. Plus, we live out of town, so it doesn’t really make sense.
